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-\^ —   \JJCi»i,    V  w>  o 


THE  EXETER 


Quarter-  Millennial. 


Address  delivered  in  Exeter, 
New  Hampshire,  June  7, 
1888,  on  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
the  settlement  of  the  town. 


By  CHARLES  H.  BELL. 


ONE    HUNDRED    COPIES   PRINTED. 


EXETER : 

PRINTED   BY  JOHN   TEMI'LETON. 

Zljt  Nt&jgsEettJt  ^tess. 

MDCCCLXXXVIII. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from. 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/exeterquartermilOObelliala 


ADDRESS. 


It  is  a  pleasant  and  profitable  cus- 
tom which  our  older  towns  have 
adopted,  to  celebrate  by  memorial 
exercises  their  notable  anniversaries. 
It  reminds  the  generations  on  the 
stage  that  the  privileges  they  enjoy 
are  not  of  spontaneous  growth,  but 
have  been  secured  to  them  by  the 
pains  and  foresight  of  their  predeces- 
sors ;  it  keeps  green  the  memory  of 
the  fathers  who  braved  hardship  and 
peril  that  they  might  lay  broad  and 
deep  the  foundations  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  for  their  descendants  ; 
it  admonishes  the  Present  not  to  care 
for  its  own  time  alone,  but  to  repay 
the  debt  it  owes  to  the  Past  by  plan- 
ning and  providing  for  the  Future. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  town  of  Exeter 
observed  with  fitting  ceremonies  the 
two  hundreth  anniversary  of  its  na- 
tivity. In  the  presence  of  a  great 
concourse,  largely  composed  of  de- 
scendants of  the  planters  of  the  orig- 
inal settlement,  a  gentleman  familiar 
with  the  early  history  of  the  place, 
of  ripe  learning  and  experience,  and 
of  philosophical  habits  of  thought, 
delivered  an  Address  appropriate  to 
the  occasion.  He  dwelt  especially 
upon  the  character  of  the  founders 
of  Exeter  and  the  events  of  its  early 
years.     It  would  be  an  act  of  pre- 


suiuptiou  I'ur  me  on  Ibis  occasion  to 
alleinpt  to  deal  with  the  topics  which 
he  then  treated  so  felicitously. 

I  shall  give  my  attention  there- 
fore, chiefly  to  those  passages 
of  the  town's  history  which  did  not 
appropriately  come  within  his  de- 
sign. 

The  quarter  millennial  anniversary 
of  old  Exeter  which  we  now  cele- 
brate, is  not  the  exclusive  prerogative 
of  the  town  which  at  present  bears  the 
name ;— it  belongs  to  several  other 
neighboring  places  as  well.  New- 
market, South  Newmarket,  Epping, 
Brentwood  and  Fremont  were  parts 
of  the  original  township  of  Exeter, 
and  during  substantially  the  first 
century  w^ere  under  its  government. 
The  first  two  of  those  towns  were  set 
off  into  independent  municipalities 
in  1727,  the  third  in  1741,  and  the 
last  two  in  1742.  Stratham,  also, 
though  its  territory  was  never  a  part 
of  the  original  township,  was  by  law 
united  in  government  with  Exeter 
from  1692  to  1716,  and  was  in  effect 
a  part  of  it  many  years  before. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  several 
places  are  descended  from  the  same 
stock  as  our  own.  They  are  con- 
nected with  us  by  the  ties  of  blood, 
of  common  memories,  and  of  long 
and  neighborly  friendship.  Exeter 
was  the  maternal  town ;  they  the 
children  who  enjoyed  the  same  nur- 
ture as  ourselves,  and  when  they 
reached  adult  age,  quitted  the  home- 
stead to  set  up  their  own  separate 
establishments.  When  the  mother's 
birthday  comes  round,  they  are  en- 
titled to  the  same  privilege  of  giving 


it  filial  observance  that  we  have.  We 
cordially  welcome  them  to  a  partic- 
ipation in  the  celebration  of  our  com- 
mon anniversary  to-day. 

Two  hundred  and  fifty  years  in 
this  country  constitute  antiquity. 
They  carry  us  back  to  within  eight- 
een years  of  the  time  when  the  May- 
flower landed  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  on 
the  stern  and  rock  bound  coast  of 
Plymouth.  The  changes  which  have 
occurred  in  the  condition  of  the  suc- 
cessive generations  who  have  inhab- 
ited this  township  during  that  period 
have  been  so  numerous  and  so  strik- 
ing that  it  would  be  impossible  even 
to  allude  to  them  in  the  single  hour 
at  my  command.  I  can  onl}'  direct 
attention  to  the  more  significant 
events — those  which  were  chiefly  in- 
strumental in  shaping  the  destinies 
of  the  town,  and  which  especially 
emphasize  the  characteristics  of  the 
people.  For  the  sake  of  convenience 
and  clearness  I  will  take  up  each 
successive  half  century  and  consider 
it  by  itself. 

1638  TO  1688. 

Exeter  had  neither  charter  nor  act 
of  incorporation.  It  came  into  being 
as  a  place  of  refuge  for  men  perse- 
cuted for  conscience'  sake.  The 
Rev.  John  Wheelwright  was  its 
founder  and  sponsor.  He  was  a  na- 
tive of  Lincolnshire  in  England  and 
belonged  to  the  upper  middle  class 
of  the  people.  He  received  his  ed- 
ucation at  the  university,  and  inher- 
ited lands  from  his  father.  We  may 
judge  something  of  his  abilities  and 
standing  by  the  friendships  which  he 


made.  Two  of  the  foremost  men 
whose  names  are  recorded  on  the 
pages  of  P^ngland's  history,  Oliver 
Cromwell  and  Sir  Henry  Vane,  were 
his  early  acquaintances,  and  in  ma- 
ture life  his  associates  and  friends. 
This  is  a  sufficient  voucher  for  hia 
character  and  position.  His  sphere 
of  action  was  limited,  when  compar- 
ed with  theirs,  but  he  maintained 
the  independence  and  firmness,  the 
breadth  and  dignity,  which  would 
have  fitted  him  for  high  station,  had 
his  destiny  called  him  to  it. 

For  his  puritanical  utterances  he 
was  silenced  as  a  preacher  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  he  came  to  this  country 
in  pursuit  of  a  free  religious  atmos- 
phere. But  he  found  the  lords  mag- 
istrates and  elders  of  Massachusetts 
fully  as  intolerant  as  the  lords  bish- 
ops at  home.  Moreover  he  became 
a  warm  partisan  of  the  losing  candi- 
date for  the  chief  magistrac}'  of  the 
colony.  Unfortunate  both  in  his 
theolog}'  and  his  politics,  he  was 
banished  by  his  fellow  Chris'.ians  of 
Massachusetts,  and  found  an  as^'lum 
among  the  heathen  savages  at  the 
falls  of  the  Squamscot.  Here  he  be- 
came the  founder  of  a  commonwealth 
as  well  as  of  a  town.  No  govern- 
ment  under  that  of  the  Creator  ex- 
isted over  the  domain  that  he  pur- 
chased from  the  Indian  occupants. 
He  established  one.  The  Exeter 
Combination  for  the  purpose  of  self 
government,  as  drawn  by  Wheel- 
wright in  1G39,  and  bearing  the 
signatures  of  himself  and  his  compan- 
ions, is  preserved  in  his  own  hand- 
writing in  our  earliest  book  of  records 


to  this  daj'.  Under  the  authority  of 
this  instrument  and  of  a  code  of  laws 
framed  in  accordance  with  it,  the 
little  colony  for  five  years  lived  and 
managed  their  own  affairs  in  peace 
and  harmony. 

The  rulers  of  Massachusetts,  am- 
bitious to  extend  their  sovereignty, 
then  laid  claim,  by  a  forced  con- 
struction of  their  charter,  to  the  ter- 
ritory of  New  Hampshire.  The  in- 
fant settlement  had  no  power  to  re- 
sist, and  no  tiibunal  to  afford  re- 
dress. Wheelwright  and  his  special 
friends,  unwilling  again  to  expose 
themselves  to  the  tender  mercies  of 
which  they  already  had  a  sufficient 
experience,  shook  the  dust  from 
their  feet,  and  sought  refuge  in  the 
forests  of  Maine.  The  remaining 
citizens  of  the  town  made  a  virtue  of 
necessity,  and  petitioned  to  be  re- 
ceived under  the  jurisdiction  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  permission  was  gra- 
ciously accorded. 

For  the  first  few  years  after  this 
change  of  government,  the  town  was 
apparently  at  a  stand  still.  Their 
old  leader  was  gone  and  there  seem- 
ed to  be  no  one  left  to  give  tone  and 
balance  to  the  settlement.  The  peo- 
ple fell  to  wrangling  over  religious 
questions.  This  was  characteristic 
of  the  times.  The  hours  that  the 
men  of  this  age  spend  in  discussing 
party  politics  or  the  news  of  the  day, 
they  employed  in  controversies  over 
questions  of  speculative  theolog}' 
and  the  comparative  gifts  and  graces 
of  rival  preachers.  The}'  had  noth- 
ing else  to  occupy  their  minds.  Their 
few  books  were  for  the  most  part  po- 


d 


lemical,  their  politics  and  religion 
were  synonymous,  and  news  they  had 
none.  Our  colon\'  at  this  stage  was 
sadly  in  need  of  a  tonic  and  an  alter- 
ative. 

From  the  narrowing  influence  of 
religious  dissension  the  inhabitants 
were  fortunately  rescued  after  a  few 
3'ears,  by  two  new  arrivals.  The 
first  was  that  of  Edward  Oilman,  the 
younger,  a  man  of  property  and  en- 
terprise. Apparently  he  was  attract- 
ed hither  by  the  report  of  the  water 
power  of  our  rivers,  and  of  the 
abundant  timber  upon  their  banks. 
He  entered  into  an  agreement  with 
the  townsmen  to  come  here  and  build 
saw  mills,  upon  condition  that  the 
town  would  grant  him  water  power 
and  timber.  The  contract  was  hon- 
orably fulfilled  on  the  part  of  each. 
A  new  industry  was  thus  established 
in  the  town ;  new  value  was  given 
to  the  waters  and  the  forest,  and  a 
fresh  impetus  to  business  and  trade. 

The  other  arrival  which  conduced 
to  the  improvement  of  the  place  was 
that  of  a  settled  pastor,  the  Rev. 
Samuel  Dudley.  Nothing  could  have 
been  more  fortunate  for  the   people. 

A  son  of  one  governor  of  Massa- 
chutetts  and  a  son  in  law  of  another, 
his  acquaintance  with  the  leading 
men  of  that  colony  was  potent  for 
good  to  our  people.  Moreover  he 
liad  been  a  man  of  affairs  before  he 
became  a  minister.  He  appears  to 
have  been  free  from  the  hair-splitting 
of  theological  subtleties  so  common 
among  his  clerical  brethren.  No 
doubt  he  preached  faithfully  the  fun- 
damental  doctrines  of  his  denomina- 


tion,  and  we  are  sure  that  be  enfor- 
ced by  his  example  the  virtaes  of  in- 
dustry and  thrift.  But  he  wasted 
no  lime  in  idle  speculations  upon  the 
hidden  mysteries  of  another  world, 
so  long  as  there  were  pressing  duties 
calling  for  his  best  attention  in  this. 
After  his  arrival  we  hear  nothing 
more  of  religious  dissensions.  Mr. 
Dudley  lived  in  the  town  and  minis- 
tered to  the  people  of  Exeter  more 
than  thirty  j'ears,  and  perhaps  no 
man,  in  the  infancy  of  the  place  did 
more  than  he  to  give  it  character 
and  stabilit}'. 

In  1G80  Exeter  experienced  anoth- 
er change  of  government.  New 
Hampshire  was  erected  into  a  royal 
province,  and  had  its  own  separate 
officers  commissioned  by  the  British 
Crown,  Reluctant  as  were  the  in- 
habitants, forty  years  before,  to  sub- 
mit to  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachu- 
setts, they  were  yet  more  reluctant 
to  quit  it  now.  It  was  not  so 
much  that  they  loved  that  govern- 
ment more,  though  it  had  served 
them  well,  as  that  they  loved  the 
prospect  of  the  New  Hampshire  gov- 
ernment less.  From  the  influences 
under  which  it  was  instituted,  the}- 
regarded  it  as  a  menace  to  the  title 
of  their  lands. 

John  Mason  received  in  1G29  a 
grant  of  the  territory  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, through  the  council  of  PI3'- 
mouth,  from  the  King  of  England, 
who  claimed  to  own  it  by  the  right  of 
discovery.  Mason  after  expending 
a  considerable  sum  in  settling  a  col- 
ony upon  it,  died  in  1C35.  Three 
years     after    his   death    Wheel  right 


10 


bought  from  tlie  Indians  the  territo- 
ry of  Exeter  and  its  vicinity.  If 
those  who  came  to  inhabit  it  had 
ever  heard  of  any  claim  of  Mason  or 
his  heirs  to  the  lands,  they  must 
have  regarded  it  as  unfounded  and 
unjust.  What  right  could  the  King  of 
England  acquire,  they  might  natural- 
h'  have  asked,  to  an  inliabited  coun- 
try, by  the  mere  fact  that  during  the 
reign  of  one  of  his  predecessors  more 
than  a  hundred  years  before,  a  Brit- 
ish explorer  had  discovered  and 
landed  upon  it?  And  what  right 
could  Mason  gain  to  the  lands 
in  the  rest  of  the  province,  by  estab- 
lishing in  one  extremity'  of  it  a  col- 
ony at  Portsmouth  and  mills  on  the 
Newichwannock?  Neither  Mason 
nor  any  one  in  his  behalf,  so  far  as 
it  appears,  had  ever  so  much  as  set 
fooAt  or  eyes  upon  the  soil  of  Exeter. 
On  the  other  hand  the  purchase 
of  the  lands  from  the  Indian 
proprietors,  and  continued  actual  oc- 
cupancy afterwards,  were  regarded 
as  forming  an  unimpeachable  title. 
Forty  years  and  more  the  inhabit- 
ants had  possessed  the  soil  under  a 
claim  of  absolute  ownership.  They 
had  sown  and  reaped,  bought  and 
sold,  inherited  and  devised  it,  with- 
out a  question  or  a  doubt  of  the  se- 
curity of  their  title. 

And  now  Robert  Tufton  Mason, 
grandson  and  heir  of  John  Mason, 
had  obtained  the  opinion  of  the  At- 
torney General  of  England,  that  he 
had  a  good  and  valid  claim  to  the 
soil  of  New  Hampshire.  The  tidings 
came  upon  the  colonists  like  a  clap 
of  thunder  from  a  clear  skv. 


11 


It  is  true  that  this  legal  opinion 
was  afterwards  modified,  but  it  was 
nevertheless  upon  Mason's  solieita- 
lion  that  the  King  severed  New 
Hampshire  from  Massachusetts  and 
gave  it  a  separate  government.  The 
consequences  of  this  step  the  inhabi- 
tants foreboded  only  too  clearl}'. 
Tribunals  would  be  established  that 
would  recognize  Robert  Mason's  title 
to  the  lands  ;  and  then  what  would 
become  of  their  cherished  possessions  ? 
Is  it  any  wonder,  therefore,  that  they 
went  unwillingly  under  the  yoke  that 
threatened  to  deprive  them  of  their 
property  and  homes? 

For  the  first  two  or  three  years  af- 
ter the  new  government  went  into 
operation,  however,  their  apprehen- 
sions were  not  realized.  The  first 
ofllcers  appointed  were  craftik  select- 
ed from  the  ranks  of  the  colonists 
themselves,  so  that  the  rights  of  all 
were  respected.  At  length  Robert 
Mason  became  tired  of  waiting,  and 
by  his  desire  Edward  Cranfield.  said 
to  be  a  needy  relative  of  an  English 
family  of  rank,  was  appointed  gover- 
nor. To  make  assurance  doubly 
sure,  Mason  bound  him  to  himself  by 
pecuniary  inducements.  Cranfield 
made  his  approaches  with  studied 
deliberation.  The  representatives  of 
the  colonists  at  first  believed  him  to 
be  their  friend,  and  unwittingly  sur- 
rendered to  him  the  control  of  the 
jury  lists — a  fatal  oversight,  as  the 
event  proved.  No  sooner  did  he  feel 
himself  strong  enough  than  he  threw 
off  the  mask  and  became  the  un- 
scrupulous partisan  of  Mason  in  his 
attempt   to  strip   the   inhabitants  of 


12 


their  homesteads.  Suits  were  brought 
in  every  township,  and  no  less  than 
sixteen  in  Exeter  alone.  At  first  the 
colonists  made  an  attempt  to  defend 
them,  but  judges,  sheriflfs  and  jurors 
were  found  to  be  the  creatures  of 
Mason  and  Cranfleld,  and  trials  sim- 
ply a  farce.  Judgments  were  invari- 
ably' entered  for  Mason;  If  he  could 
only  have  enforced  them,  he  would 
have  been  the  proprietor  of  the  pro- 
vince in  deed  as  well  as  in  name,  and 
the  occupants  must  have  become  his 
tenants  on  bis  own  terms. 

But  then  it  was  that  our  fathers 
showed  the  stuff  they  were  made  of. 
Then  they  proved  that  there  was  a 
higher  law  than  that  administer- 
ed by  such  tribunals  ;  the  law  of  right 
and  justice.  The  processes  of  those 
Courts  were  found  of  no  more  worth 
than  the  paper  they  were  written  on  ; 
the  officers  of  the  Courts  were  power- 
less as  new  born  babes.  Though 
judges  and  juries  pronounced  the 
lauds  to  be  Mason's,  the  voice  of  the 
people  decreed  them  to  be  the  occu- 
pants'. Mason  could  not  sell  and 
dared  not  attempt  to  possess,  what 
he  had  nominally  acquired. 

Cranfield,  the  mercenary  governor, 
foiled  in  his  land  speculation,  then 
attempted  to  fill  his  pockets  by  illegal 
taxation  of  the  people.  By  false 
pretenses  he  induced  his  council  to 
assent  to  a  lev}',  though  his  commis- 
sion forbade  him  to  lay  taxes  with- 
out the  concurrence  of  the  popular 
branch  of  the  General  Assembly. 
This  was  the  drop  too  much  that  over- 
flowed the  measure  of  the  people's 
patience.     They  did  not  even  make  a 


13 

pretence  of  obedience.  When  the 
emissaries  of  tlie  governor  visited 
Exeter  to  demand  payment  of  the 
illegal  assessments,  they  were  met 
with  open  insult  and  derision,  and 
the  very  women  threatened  them  with 
red  hot  spits  and  scalding  water. 
Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  people  at 
the  close  of  the  first  half  century  of 
the  town's  histor\'. 

1G88  TO  173«. 

The     second   half  century   begins 
with  the  year  1688.     The   settlement 
had  by  this  time  struck  root  deep  in- 
to the  soil,  though  its  outward  growth 
was   small.     The    population    could 
have  little   exceeded   three   hundred 
souls.     But  they  had  learned  the  value 
of  what  they  had  acquired,  and  had 
the  spirit  to  defend  it  against  the  ag- 
gressions of  authority  or  of  violence. 
This  period  carries  us  forward  to  the 
year  1738  and  covers  the  whole  dura- 
tion of  the  earlier  Indian  hostilities, 
except  the  brief  episode   of  Philip's 
war,    which   was   in  New  Hampshire 
but  a  momentary  foregleam   of  the 
lurid  light  which  was  later  to  redden 
the  whole  horizon  of  our  frontier,  for 
long  and  blood}'  \'ears.  Exeter  was  a 
border   town.      Along    its    western 
boundary   no  inhabited  territory   in- 
terposed between  it  and  the  deep  for- 
ests which  were  the  highway  and  the 
lurking   place  of  the  hostile  savages. 
For  years  there   was    no  hour  when 
an   inhabitant  of  the  town  could  say 
that  he  was  safe.     When  he  unbarred 
his  door  in  the  morning,  he  was  liable 
to   be   shot   down  from  an  ambush  ; 
when  he  returned  to  his  home  at   the 


14 


close  of  the  day  he  had  no  assurance 
that  he  might  not  find  it  a  heap  of 
ashes.  The  parting  of  husband  and 
wife  for  an  hour's  separation,  each 
felt  might  be  their  final  one  on  earth. 
Men  did  not  even  attend  divine  ser- 
vice without  weapons  in  their  hands. 
At  night  whole  neighborhoods  were 
gathered  into  garrisons,  for  compara- 
tive security.  All  was  danger  and 
apprehension. 

Trying  as  was  this  period  of  con- 
stant peril,  it  was  not  without  its 
compensations  in  its  effects  upon  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants.  While 
real  trouble  was  always  present,  there 
was  no  borrowing  of  imaginary  trou- 
ble. Habits  of  courage  and  presence 
of  mind  were  generated.  Women 
became  heroines.  Young  men  learn- 
ed to  imitate  the  virtues  of  the  In- 
dian savage — his  caution,  patience 
and  contempt  of  hardship  and  dan- 
ger, and  to  supplement  them  with  the 
chivalrous  qualities  that  grow  out  of 
the  relations  of  civilized  life.  The 
successful  Indian-fighter  was  the 
knight-errant  of  his  time,  protecting 
the  helpless,  rescuing  the  captives, 
avenging  the  slain.  The  fame  of  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  of  these. 
Col.  Winthrop  Hilton,  belongs  to  old 
Exeter ;  his  home  was  in  that  part  of 
it  which  is  now  South  Newmarket. 
He  was  the  paladin  of  the  region. 
His  "keen  black  eyes  and  his  long 
bright  gun"  were  objects  of  terror  to 
the  hostile  aborigines.  In  defence 
of  the  white  inhabitants  of  these  ex- 
posed frontiers  he  led  his  brave  as- 
sociates again  and  again  into  the 
haunts  of  the  savages.     Long  he  kept 


15 


them  in  wholesome  awe,  till  at  last 
they  fell  upon  him  by  surprise  and 
put  an  end  to  his  career.  His  achieve- 
ments are  worthy  of  being  wedded  to 
immortal  verse,  and  will  form  a  fit 
subject  for  the  muse  of  the  national 
poet  of  the  future. 

After  years  of  intermittent  warfare, 
during  which  our  town  lost  heavily 
by  slaughter  and  capture,  the  joj'ful 
tidings  of  peace  with  the  Indians  were 
proclaimed.  The  country  breathed 
freer.  No  longer  restrained  by  the 
dread  of  the  tomahawk  and  the  scalp- 
ing knife,  the  tide  of  population  over- 
passed the  frontier,  and  distributed 
itself  through  the  territory  beyond. 
New  townships  were  settled  ;  a  new 
border  land  was  created,  a  shield  of 
protection  for  Exeter. 

As  is  always  the  case  after  the  re- 
pressive influence  of  war  is  removed, 
the  population  at  once  increased 
apace.  Agriculture  was  resumed, 
and  the  woods  which  had  long  echoed 
only  the  crack  of  the  deadly  rifle,  once 
more  resounded  cheerily  to  the  blows 
of  the  lumberman's  axe.  Prosperity 
returned  with  a  rebound.  The  edu- 
cation of  the  young  was  placed  upon 
a  permanent  basis.  The  town  es- 
tablished and  thenceforward  main- 
tained a  grammar  and  classical  school 
and  erected  a  building  of  respectable 
dimensions  for  its  accommodation. 
A  spacious  new  meeting  house  with 
two  tiers  of  galleries  was  built  on  the 
spot  which  has  been  occupied  as  the 
site  of  a  house  of  worship  now  one- 
hundred  and  ninety-two  years  ;  and 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  way  stood 
the   town    house,   beside  which  were 


1$ 


stalioDed,  like  sentinels  to  preserve 
the  public  order,  the  whipping  post 
and  the  stocks. 

The  title  to  their  lands  was  no  lon- 
ger a  subject  of  apprehension  to  the 
inhabitants.  No  thanks  for  this, 
however,  to  the  English  authorities. 
They  did  their  utmost  to  instate  the 
representatives  of  Mason  as  the  pro- 
prietors of  the  province,  by  means  of 
an  arbitrary  mandate,  in  sheer  viola- 
tion of  the  Eoglishman's  proud  inheri- 
tance, the  common  law  of  the  realm. 
In  the  great  suit  of  Allen  against 
Waldron  tried  in  our  courts  in  1707 
and  by  common  consent  made  a  test 
case  to  decide  the  title  to  the  lands 
of  the  province,  the  Queen  in  Council 
ordered  that  if  either  party  should 
require  it,  the  jury  were  to  return  a 
special  verdict,  stating  merely  the 
facts  proved,  and  leaving  the  judg- 
ment to  be  pronounced  by  the  Eng- 
lish tribunals.  The  order  was  wholly 
in  the  interest  of  Allen  the  plaintiff, 
the  representative  of  Mason  ;  for  if  it 
had  been  carried  into  effect  there  is 
little  doubt  that  the  English  courts 
would  have  found  means  to  "drive  a 
coach  and  six"  through  any  finding 
of  the  provincial  jury,  and  to  author- 
ize a  judgment  for  the  plaintiff. 

But  the  order  was  a  clear  usurpa- 
tion of  power,  for  from  time  immemo- 
rial jurors  have  enjoyed  the  right  to 
find  their  verdicts  in  general  terms 
for  the  plaintiff  or  the  defendant,  if 
they  pleased  ;  and  no  court  had  the 
authority  to  compel  them  to  do  other- 
wise. And  this  jury  of  our  fathers,  to 
whom  was  committed  the  decision  of 
the  most    important    question    ever 


17 


litigated  in  New  Hampshire,  rough 
and  unlettered  as  they  prebably  were, 
yet  knew  their  constitutional  rights, 
and  knowing  dared  maintain  them. 
Though  twice  sent  out  under  the  or- 
der of  the  Queen  in  Council  they  had 
the  courage  and  independence  to  dis- 
obey the  unconstitutional  mandate, 
and  would  render  no  verdict  save  a 
general  one  against  the  Masonian 
claims.  All  honor  to  their  firmness 
and  foresight.  Had  they  yielded  their 
prerogative  then,  our  lands  and  our 
laws,  too,  might  to-day  have  been  at 
the  mercy  of  foreign  tribunals.  The 
independence  of  the  jury  once  sur- 
rendered could  never  have  been  re- 
gained. And  would  the  sons  of  jur- 
ors who  bowed  to  the  illegal  assump- 
tions of  power,  have  had  the  moral 
fibre  to  resist  further  aggressions, 
and  to  endure  long  years  of  fighting 
and  suffering  to  achieve  their  inde- 
pendence ?  It  is  pleasant  to  record 
that  two  at  least  of  the  jurors  who 
took  this  noble  stand  in  behalf  of  their 
own  rights  and  those  of  their  coun- 
trymen, were  citizens  of  Exeter. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  first 
century  that  the  distribution  of  the 
common  lands  was  accomplished. 
The  territory  which  Wheelwright  ob- 
tained from  the  Indians,  in  1638  did 
not  become  private  property,  but  the 
public  possession  of  the  town.  Thus 
the  inhabitants  in  their  collective  ca- 
pacity were  vested  with  the  control 
and  disposal  of  a  domain  of  the  extent 
of  one  hundred  square  miles,  at  the 
least.  From  it  they  made  grants 
from  time  to  time  to  townsmen  and 
new  comers,     at     discretion.     Their 


18 

discretion  they  used  wisely.  They 
treated  tbeir  great  landed  estate  as 
their  capital,  and  drew  from  it  such 
portions  only  as  they  had  need  of, 
to  encourage  enterprise  and  reward 
desert,  and  to  meet  necessary  charges. 
Ilad  they  had  the  spendthrift's  dis- 
position, they  would  have  squander- 
ed their  resource  in  a  decade,  if  in- 
deed it  had  lasted  so  long.  But 
they  were  gifted  with  prudence  and 
moderation,  and  a  hundred  years 
elapsed  before  the  last  of  the  land 
was  disposed  of. 

In  1714  the  town  still  retained 
a  belt  of  it  two  miles  in  breadth  and 
extending  along  the  whole  western 
bound  of  the  township,  and  adopt- 
ed an  order  that  it  should  be  reserv- 
ed as  a  perpetual  commonage  for  the 
inhabitants.  And  so  it  continued  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  When  we 
consider  that  it  required  only  a  vote 
of  the  majority  to  give  to  every  in- 
habitant his  proportion  of  those  ten 
thousand  acres  or  more,  it  appears 
wonderful  that  they  kept  their  hands 
off  it  so  long.  At  length,  however, 
but  only  after  careful  consideration, 
and  with  the  aid  of  more  than  one 
committee,  the  distribution  was 
effected,  apparently  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all.  There  is  an  old  fashion- 
ed prudence,  and  forbearance  and 
deliberation  in  the  dealings  of  the  in- 
habitants with  their  common  lands, 
which  are  in  refreshing  contrast  with 
the  forth-putting  impatience  of  these 
modern  times. 

1738  TO  1788. 

The  third  fifty  years  take  us  on 


19 


to  1788,  the  date  of  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  This  was 
an  era  of  momentous  political 
changes  on  this  continent.  It  wit- 
nessed the  wresting  of  the  dominion 
of  Canada  from  France  by  England, 
with  the  aid  of  the  Americans,  and 
the  wresting  of  the  United  States 
from  the  control  of  England  by  the 
Americans  with  the  aid  of  the  French. 
The  great  struggle  between  England 
and  France  for  the  mastery  in  Amer- 
ica lasted,  with  some  intermissions, 
for  fifteen  years.  During  this  peri- 
od our  town  was  never  backward  in 
furnishing  its  quota  of  men  and 
means  to  promote  the  designs  of  the 
mother  countr^^ 

The  campaign  against  Louisburg 
in  1745  was  a  veritable  crusade. 
The  troops  marched  under  a  banner 
whose  motto  Nil  desperandum 
Christo  duce  was  chosen  by  the 
evangelist  George  Whitefield.  Every 
rule  of  scientific  warfare  was  set  at 
naught,  and  the  success  of  the  ex- 
pedition astonished  the  military 
world.  Of  the  six  hundred  men  fur- 
nished by  New  Hampshire  in  the 
first  instance  and  by  way  of  rein- 
forcements for  this  enterprise,  Exe- 
ter appears  to  have  sent  two  compa- 
nies. 

In  the  battle  at  Lake  George  in 
1755,  the  fortunate  issue  of  which 
gave  Sir  William  Johnson  his  bar- 
onetcy, an  Exeter  company  of  eighty 
men  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Nathaniel  Folsom,  with  half  as  many 
New  York  troops,  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  discomfiture  and 
total    rout  of  the  French.     They    at- 


20 

tacked  and  dispersed  the  rear  guard 
of  the  enemy,  and  inflicted  a  severe 
loss  upon  the  main  body  of  their  re- 
treating array,  besides  depriving 
them  of  their  ammunition  and  bag- 
gage. It  was  an  exploit  which  made 
the  reputation  of  the  officer  who  con- 
ducted it. 

At  the  capitulation  of  Fort  Wil- 
liam Henry,  two  year^  later,  among 
the  troops  surrendered  were  two  reg- 
imental officers  and  a  company  of 
Exeter  men.  In  the  plunder  and 
massacre  of  helpless  prisoners  by 
the  Indian  allies  of  the  French  on 
that  occasion,  which  affixed  an  iu- 
lielible  stigma  upon  the  character  of 
Montcalm,  several  of  our  townsmen 
suffered,  some  death,  others  capture 
and  long  detention,  and  all  the  loss 
of  their  property. 

In  every  campiagn  of  that  pro- 
tracted war,  it  is  believed,  Exeter 
was  represented  by  a  due  proportion 
of  officers  and  soldiers,  serving  faith- 
fully under  the  flag  of  the  mother 
country,  even  to  the  decisive  years, 
which  saw  the  chivalric  Wolfe 
yield  up  bis  life  in  the  moment  of 
victory  at  Quebec,  and  the  gallant 
Amherst  receive  the  surrender  of 
Montreal,  which  terminated  the 
French  ascendancy  in  Canada. 

It  seems  to  have  been  beneficently 
ordered  of  Providence  that  before  the 
final  test  of  the  Revolution  came, 
our  countrymen  had  undergone  the 
experience  of  the  French  and  Indian 
wars.  They  had  there  derived  just 
the  lessons  needed  to  inspire  them 
with  confidence  to  enter  upon 
the  struggle  for  their  independence 


^1 


from  foreign  domination.  They  had 
tested  their  mettle  in  the  conflicts 
with  the  cruel  savages,  and  measured 
tliemselves  with  the  disciplined  bat- 
talions of  the  warlike  French.  They 
had  witnessed  the  bloody  repulses  of 
Braddock  and  Abercrombie,  and  par- 
ticipated in  the  victories  of  some  of 
the  most  successful  generals  of  the 
British  army.  All  the  while  they 
were  becoming  inured  to  warfare, 
and  were  losing  their  dread  of  regu- 
lar troops,  who  imported  the  tactics 
of  the  parade  into  the  bush  fighting 
of  the  wilderness.  They  were  qual- 
ifying themselves  to  meet  on  some- 
thing like  equal  terms  the  armies  of 
Howe  and  Burgo\'ne,  of  Clinton  and 
Cornwallis.  In  those  early  schools 
of  warfare  were  trained  Stark  and 
Putnam  and  Washington.  Without 
the  experience  gained  from  those 
sources,  to  whom  could  our  coun- 
trymen have  turned  for  leaders 
in  the  long  and  doubtful  contest 
by  which  they  finally  achieved  their 
independence?  And  without  com- 
manders practiced  in  the  military 
art,  would  they  ever  have  had  the 
temerit\'  to  take  up  arms  against  one 
of  the  most  powerful  nations  on  the 
globe  ? 

Scarcely  was  the  French  war  over, 
before  Britain  began  that  series  of 
encroachments  upon  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  her  American  colonies, 
which  at  length  aroused  them  to  arm- 
ed resistance.  The  Stamp  Act 
was  the  initiative.  This  was  an  in- 
direct attempt  at  taxation  without 
representation,  a  principle  not  for  an 
instant  tolerated    by  the  sons  of  lib- 


22 


ert3'.  The  people  of  Exeter  chose 
the  evening  of  the  fifth  of  November, 
1765,  to  demonstrate  their  feeling 
towards  the  odious  act.  This  was 
the  anniversary  of  the  famous  "gun- 
powder plot,"  and  was  observed  in 
some  of  the  New  England  towns  by 
burning  in  effiay  Guy  Fawkes  and 
the  Pope,  as  the  chief  enemies  of  the 
British  constitution.  Three  figures 
were  prepared,  in  the  Exeter  de- 
monstration, representing  accord- 
ing to  the  popular  understanding, 
Lords  North  and  Bute  and  the  devil, 
the  former  two  of  whom,  at  least, 
were  identified  with  the  legislation 
detrimental  to  the  colonies.  The 
effigies  were  paraded  through  the 
streets,  under  the  escort  of  a  hooting 
crowd,  over  the  greai  bridge  to  the 
east  bank  of  the  river,  and  there  on 
the  hill-side,  in  full  view  of  the  vil- 
lage, they  were  deliberately  set  fire 
to  and  burned. 

This  unmistakable  act  was  be3'ond 
doubt  the  expression  of  the  feeling 
of  the  great  mnjority  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  town.  Yet  there  was 
an  undercurrent  of  timidity  and  re- 
monstrance. Stamps  were  made  by 
law  necessary'  to  the  validity  of  ever^' 
written  instrument  and  of  every  legal 
proceeding.  Yet  not  a  stamp  would 
the  people  suffer  to  be  used.  How 
then,  asked  a  few,  are  we  to  collect 
our  dues,  or  to  secure  our  property- 
from  depredation?  The  patriotism 
and  sound  sense  of  our  fathers  solved 
the  problem,  Thirly-four  of  the 
principal  inhabitants  of  Exeter  set 
their  hands  to  a  public  manifesto 
that  the}'  would   in   person    aid   and 


23 

sustain  the  peace  officers  in  the  main- 
tenance of  order,  and  in  the  defence 
of  property.  The  same  colonists 
who  defied  the  power  of  the  entire 
British  parliament  respected  the  self 
constituted  authority  of  a  handful  of 
their  countrymen.  The  year  which 
passed  in  the  open  nullification  of  a 
known,  unmistakable  statute,  was  as 
free  from  illegal  disturbance  in  all 
other  respects,  as  an}'  year  before  or 
after. 

From  this  time  forward  Exeter  was 
outspoken  in  its  opposition  to  the  ag- 
gressions of  Britain,  and  in  its  sym- 
pathy with  the  colonists  upon  whom 
they  bore  most  hardly.  When  the 
Boston  Port  bill  was  passed,  which 
put  an  end  to  the  commerce  and 
trade  of  the  principal  town  of  New 
England,  and  reduced  a  part  of  its 
population  to  poverty  and  distress,  a 
town  meeting  of  Exeter  was  called, 
which  not  only  passed  a  series  of 
resolutions  of  condemnation  of  the 
course  of  the  English  government, 
but  also  voted  to  raise  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  pounds  by  assessment  upon 
the  polls  and  estates  of  the  inhabi- 
tants, for  the  relief  of  the  suffering 
poor  of  Boston.  It  is  creditable  to 
the  benevolence  and  patriotism  of 
our  people,  that  the  assessment  ap- 
pears to  have  been  paid  as  cheerfully 
as  any  other  tax  ;  and  the  full  sum 
was  duly  applied  to  the  charitable 
purpose  for  which  it  was  raised. 

The  next  step  taken  in  New  Hamp- 
shire in  resistance  to  British  oppre- 
siou  was  the  seizure  of  the  arms  and 
ammunition  of  Fort  William  and 
Marv  in  Portsmouth    harbor  in   De- 


24 


dember,  1774.  This  appears  to  have 
been  no  sudden  adventure  of  a  hand- 
ful of  patriots  of  a  single  locality,  as 
some  have  imagined,  but  a  well 
planned  scheme,  known  to  the  leading 
citizens  of  the  towns  in  the  vieinit}-, 
in  which,  in  order  that  there  might  be 
no  risk  of  failure,  the  parts  were  care- 
full}'  assigned  that  each  was  to  take. 
Exeter  had  the  honor  to  furnish  the 
men  to  support  the  movement  on 
the  spot,  should  resistance  be  at- 
tempted. Accordingly  on  the  ap- 
pointed night  two  parties  of  armed 
Exeter  citizens,  numbering  seventy 
or  eight}'  in  all,  led  by  Col.  Nathan- 
iel F'olsom  and  Capt.  John  Giddinge 
with  other  prominent  patriots  of  the 
town,  marched  to  Portsmouth,  and 
were  stationed  where  they  could  be 
of  the  readiest  service,  should  help 
be  needed.  Meantime  the  raiders 
passed  down  the  river,  took  posses- 
sion of  the  Fort,  placed  the  military 
stores  on  board  their  gundalovvs,  and 
then  retraced  their  course  without 
serious  molestation.  When  the  tid- 
ings of  the  success  of  the  foray  were 
received,  the  Exeter  companies  re- 
turned home.  Their  participation  in 
the  active  work  of  disarmament  was 
not  needed,  possibly  for  the  reason 
that  their  presence  overawed  such 
opposition  as  could  have  been  mus- 
tered. The  powder  that  was  seized 
was,  much  of  it,  stored  in  Exeter 
and  the  neighboring  towns. 

Between  this  occurrence  and  the 
actual  breaking  out  of  hostilities  a 
period  of  about  four  months  inter- 
vened. On  the  evening  of  the  nine- 
teenth  of  April,  1775,  one  of  those 


i-umors  of  evil  tidings  tliat  outstrip 
in  speed  the  fleetest  messengers, 
readied  the  place,  that  the  British 
troops  had  inarched  out  of  Boston 
and  that  an  action  hud  been  fought 
in  which  American  blood  had  been 
shed.  Little  sleep  in  Exeter  that 
night,  we  may  be  sure.  Men  were 
walking  the  streets  and  gathering  in 
consultation  till  the  small  hours  of 
the  morning,  and  wives  and  mothers 
well  knowing  the  high  patriotic  spirit 
of  those  dearest  to  them  kept  anxious 
vigils.  About  daylight  the  next 
morning  the  town  was  aroused  by  the 
arrival  of  an  express  which  told  the 
story  of  Concord  and  Lexington,  and 
designated  Cambridge  as  the  rendez- 
vous for  patriotic  volunteers.  All 
Exeter  was  astir.  Drums  beat,  men 
mustered  ;  women  cooked  and  stitch- 
ed ;  and  in  a  few  brief  hours  one 
hundred  and  eight  men  stood  in 
array  before  the  Court  house,  armed, 
equipped  and  provisioned  for  the 
march.  It  was  an  instantaneous  con- 
version of  citizens  into  soldiers.  They 
had  not  even  an  officer  chosen.  But 
there  was  no  hesitation.  James 
Ilackelt,  a  ship  builder,  patriotic, 
resolute  and  courageous,  was  by  one 
voice  put  in  command,  and  led  the 
Exeter  volunteers  to  Cambridge. 

Throughout  the  Revolution  and 
for  years  afterward,  Exeter  was 
the  capital  of  the  State.  Here  as- 
sembled the  successive  provincial 
conventions,  which  provided  for  the 
safety  and  welfare  of  the  people  in 
the  interregnum  between  the  king's 
and  ihe  people's  government.  Here 
were  held  the  sessions  of  the  Legisla- 


26 


tare,  and  in  its  intermissions,  of  the 
Committee  of  Safety,  vested  witli 
dictatorial  powers.  From  tliis  place 
was  written  by  Matthew  Tliornton, 
tlie  official  letter  whicli  contained 
the  earliest  suggestion  of  indepen- 
dence that  emanated  from  any  or- 
ganized body  of  the  time.  Here  the 
Legislature  of  New  Hampshire  adopt- 
ed, January  5,  1776,  a  written  Con- 
stitution, the  earliest  of  any  of  the 
United  States,  for  the  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people  and  for  the 
people. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  des- 
cribe the  part  which  the  town  took 
in  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  It 
was  an  honorable  record.  Enoch 
l^oor,  a  ship  builder  and  merchant, 
became  a  general  officer  of  distinc- 
tion, valued  by  Washington  and  be- 
loved by  Lafayette,  and  died  in  tlie 
prime  of  his  life  and  in  the  zenith  of 
his  fame.  Nathaniel  Folsom  was 
major  general  of  the  militia  of  the 
State,  an  office  little  showy  but 
greatly  useful.  More  than  fifty 
times  during  the  war,  were  detach- 
ments from  his  command,  great  and 
small,  called  into  active  service. 
Nicholas  Oilman  entered  the  arm\' 
as  adjutant,  and  was  promoted  to  be 
a  captain  of  the  staff,  and  as  such 
was  sent  by  Washington  to  take  ac- 
count of  Cornwallis's  captured  armj-, 
after  the  surrender  of  Yorktown. 
Caleb  Robinson  left  the  service  with 
tlie  well  earned  grade  of  major,  and 
Jonathan  Cass  and  Noah  Robinson 
fought  their  way  up  from  the  ranks 
to  the  command  of  companies.  As 
nearlv  as   can   be   estimated   Exeter 


27 


furnished  not  less  than  two  hundred 
men,  for  longer  or  shorter  terms  of 
military   dut}'  in  the  war. 

The  ■  services  of  citizens  of  the 
town  in  civil  life,  were  not  less  val- 
uable or  important.  Treasurer  Nich- 
olas Gilman,  the  financier  of  New 
Hampshire  in  the  Revolution,  Noah 
Emery,  and  many  other  true  patri- 
ots and  sagacious  managers,  while 
their  sons  were  fighting  at  the  front, 
were  providing  the  sinews  of  war 
and  wiseh'  planning  for  the  future, 
at  home.  I  have  not  been  able  to 
learn  of  more  than  one  genuine  tor\' 
iu  the  town,  and  he  was  a  recent  im- 
portation.    His  stay  was  short. 

It  was  in  178G  that  Exeter  wit- 
nessed the  attempt  of  the  greenback- 
ers  of  that  period  to  coerce  the  Leg- 
islature into  the  enactment  of  a  law 
for  the  issue  of  paper  money,  to  be 
made  a  legal  tender  for  all  debts.  It 
might  be  supposed  that  the  experi- 
ence which  the  people  had  already 
undergone  with  this  fickle  currency 
would  have  deterred  the  most  thought- 
less from  risking  a  repetition  of  it. 
But  times  were  hard  and  cash  was 
scarce.  A  considerable  party  of  the 
people  in  the  country  were  infatuated 
with  the  belief  that  an  abnndance  of 
paper  promises  to  pay  would  produce 
an  abundance  of  all  other  desirable 
things.  In  this  persuasion  they 
mustered  to  the  number  of  about  two 
hundred  men,  and  marched  under 
leaders  who  had  served  in  the  war, 
into  this  town,  surrounded  the  meet- 
ing house  in  which  the  Legislature 
were  in  session,  placed  sentinels  with 
loaded   guns  at   the  doors,  and    held 


^B 


the  members  prisoners,  declaring  their 
purpose  not  to  release  them  until  the 
desired  statute  should  be  enacted. 
For  some  hours  the  entire  executive 
and  legislative  authorities  of  the 
State  were  thus  kept  in  durance,  a 
disgraceful  spectacle.  It  was  to  the 
people  of  the  town  that  they  were  at 
length  indebted  for  their  release,  by 
a  stratagem  which  alarmed  the  illegal 
assemblage  for  their  personal  safety. 
They  retreated  to  a  more  secure  posi- 
tion, but  still  persisted  in  their  purpose. 
The  next  morning,  however,  they 
were  swept  away  like  chaff  by  the 
appearance  of  an  overwhelming  force 
of  citizen  soldiery,  of  which  our 
townsmen  led  the  van. 

The  last  public  act  which  took 
place  in  our  town  during  the  half 
century  now  under  review,  was  the 
assembling  of  the  Convention  called 
bj'  the  State  for  the  ratification  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.  That  in- ' 
strnment  had  been  framed  b}'  a  body 
of  the  ablest  patriots  of  the  land, 
presided  over  by  Washington  himself. 
Of  the  two  signatures  of  the  mem- 
bers appended  to  it  in  behalf  of  this 
State  one  was  that  of  an  Exeter  man, 
Nicholas  Oilman.  It  was  then  sub- 
mitted to  the  several  thirteen  States 
for  their  action ;  it  being  provided 
that  it  was  to  go  into  effect  whenever 
it  should  receive  the  approval  of  nine. 
It  was  a  question  of  vital  importance 
to  the  stability  of  the  country.  The 
Articles  of  Confederation,  under 
which  the  people  had  been  living, 
were  comparatively  a  rope  of  sand. 
In  order  to  assume  and  maintain  our 
proper  position   before  the  world,  a 


29 

stronger  govern uienl  was  absolutely 
necessary.  It  was  not  claimed  that 
this  Constitution  was  faultless ;  it 
was  the  result  of  conopromises,  but  it 
was  the  best  which  the  best  men  of 
the  country  could  devise. 

When  the   New  Hampshire  ratify- 
ing  Convention   assembled    here   in 
January,  1788,  the   Constitution  had 
received  the  approval  of  eight  states, 
and  lacked  that   of  but  one   more  to 
become  the  organic  law  of  the  land. 
The   Convention   included   many  of 
the  most  influential  men  of  the  ."State. 
It  was   found  that  they    were  widely 
divided   in   opinion.     The  merits  of 
the  proposed    mstrument  were  thor- 
oughly discussed   during  the  session 
here    which    lasted    ten    days.     The 
numbers  of  the  parties  were  so  nearly 
equal,  and   the   responsibility  of  the 
decision    was    so     great,    that    the 
friends  of  the  Constitution  dared  not 
bring  the   question   to   a  final   vole 
without   some   further   delay,  which 
they  hoped  would  weaken  the  objec 
tions   of  its   opponents.     The   Con 
vention   was  therefore    adjourned  to 
meet   in   Concord    in   the   following 
June,  when   it    was    found    that   the 
strength  of  the  opposition  was  dimin- 
ished and  in  a  brief  space   the  ratifi- 
cation was  carried.  Thus  New  Hamp- 
shire, which  twelve  years  before  had 
been    the  foremost   to  adopt  a  State 
Constitution  for  popular  goverumcut, 
now   had  the   distinction   of   giving 
vitality  to  the  National  Constitution, 
under   which  our   country  has    lived 
and  prospered   for  a  hundred   years. 


80 


1788  TO  1838. 

The  foui-th  half  century  of  Exeter 
embraces  the  interval  between  1788 
and  1838.  The  situation  no  longer 
afforded  a  field  for  the  romantic  inci- 
dents which  were  so  prominent  in 
some  portions  of  the  colonial  age. 
The  adventurous  life  of  the  pioneer 
was  over.  There  were  no  more  sav- 
age incursions,  and  no  oppressive 
abuses  of  authority  to  call  forth  the 
heroic  elements  of  character.  Now 
that  independence  was  assured,  and 
a  permanent  popular  government  set 
up,  the  first  business  of  the  people 
was  to  repair  the  damages  caused  by 
the  war,  and  to  cultivate  the  arts  of 
peace.  The  period  we  are  now  con- 
sidering, though  not  without  some 
sharply  disturbing  influences,  was 
marked  in  general  by  recuperation 
and  material  improvement,  and  fur- 
nishes few  of  the  eventful  occurrences 
which  enliven  the   pages  of  history. 

The  severing  of  the  tie  which  con- 
nected the  colonies  with  England, 
had  the  efftct  of  diversifying  Ameri- 
can industries.  It  had  been  the  poli- 
cy of  the  mother  country  to  limit  the 
productions  of  her  colonies  to  a  few 
simple  articles  of  necessity  and  ex- 
port, and  to  keep  them  dependent 
upon  herself  for  all  more  complex 
manufactures.  For  a  long  series  of 
years  the  chief  source  of  revenue  to 
Exeter  was  the  sale  of  the  growth  of 
the  forests.  Timber  trees  and  lum- 
ber sawn  in  her  mills  were  disposed 
of  in  quantities  which  threatened  to 
strip  the  soil  of  its  chief  element  of 
value  ;— a  process  akin  to  killing  the 


81 


goose  that  laid  the  golden  eggs.  And 
when  the  war  of  the  Revolution   cut 
off  from   our  country   the  supply   of 
the   indispensable   commodities  pro- 
duced by  the  skilled  artisans  of   Bri- 
tain, American  ingenuity  was  stimu- 
lated to  provide  the   best  attainable 
substitutes   for   them.      The   water- 
power  of  our  streams  that   had  hith- 
erto  turned  only  the    wheels  of  saw 
and  corn  mills  began    to  be   utilized 
for  a  variety  of  other  purposes.     In 
Exeter   one   of   the  earliest   powder 
mills  was  put  in  operation,  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the   Continental  army. 
Paper  was   an  essential   commodity, 
and  a  mill  for  its  production  was  the 
next  undertaking.     The  maiiufacture 
of  cotton  into   the  various  forms   of 
batting,  yarns  and  cloth,  was    begun 
somewhat   later,  but  was   one  of  the 
very   early  experiments  of   the  kind 
in    the   countr}'.     These   enterprises 
were  fairly  successful  and  lasting.  In 
addition  to   these,  mills   for   various 
uses  were   from  time   to  time   estab- 
lished,— for   fulling   domestic   cloth, 
for  grinding  chocolate,  for  pulverizing 
tobacco  into  snuff,  for  expressing  oil 
from   flax  seed,  for  slitting  iron   into 
nail   rods,  for   making  fire  arms,  for 
weaving  woolen  cloth  and  for  produc- 
ing starch  from  potatoes.     The  man- 
ufacture  of  duck   or   sail   cloth,  the 
founding  of  iron,  the   production  of 
saddlery,  the   building  of  carriages, 
the    tanning    of  leather    were    also 
among   the  earlier   industries  of  the 
town.      Some   of  these    were   found 
unproductive  and  abandoned,  but  the 
law  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  pre- 
served others,  and  all   in    their   turn 


32 

subserved  the  intereats  and  prosperity 
of  the  town. 

The  printing  press  at  this  stage  of 
the  town's  development  came  to 
be  an  important  factor.  It  had 
been  introduced  as  early  as  1775, 
but  its  influence  was  tben  small. 
Our  earliest  printer  was  a  loyalist 
in  disguise,  and  when  unmasked 
was  driven  away  with  ignominy. 
Others  took  up  the  composing  stick 
which  he  laid  down,  and  from  that 
date  to  the  present,  there  has  prob- 
ably not  been  a  time  when  the  town 
was  without  a  press.  It  is  a  fact 
not  generally  known  that  an  edition 
of  the  New  Testament  was  publish- 
ed here  in  1796,  the  earliest  issue 
of  any  part  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
State. 

The  newspaper  in  Exeter  was 
long  a  hazardous  experiment,  and 
years  elapsed  before  it  received  such 
encouragement  as  to  put  it  on  a  per- 
manent, footing.  A  score  of  weekly 
publications  were  attempted  in  the 
mean  while,  but  were  generally  short 
lived.  Each  successive  venture,  how- 
ever, showed  a  stronger  support, 
and  the  News-Letter,  founded  in 
1831  by  that  distinguished  veteran 
of  the  press,  John  S.  Sleeper,  took 
firm  root  and  put  the  permanancy  of 
Exeter  journalism  beyond  a  problem. 

The  Phillips  Exeter  Academy  ac- 
quired its  early  fame  in  the  same 
half  century,  which  was  exactly  con- 
terminous with  the  principalship  of 
Dr.  Benjamin  Abbot.  It  was  for- 
tunate in  having  among  its  early 
pupils  several  youths  whom  Nature 
had   formed   to    become  leaders  of 


33 


men,  and  not  less  fortunate  in  pos- 
sessing instructors  who  were  ca- 
pable of  so  governing  and  directing 
tbem  that  they  might  best  fulfill  their 
high  destiny.  The  influence  of  the 
Academy  during  those  3'ears  could 
not  fail  to  be  a  power  for  good  in  the 
town.  Dr.  Abbot,  Professor  Hosea 
Ilildreth,  and  the  series  of  brilliant 
3'oung  college  graduates  who  were 
their  assistants,  were  not  men  to  live 
in  a  community  and  leave  no  trace  be- 
hind. Their  impress  was  plainly 
discernible  upon  the  moral,  social 
and  literary  life  of  the  town.  The 
character  for  intelligence  and  culti- 
vation which  Exeter  has  long  main- 
tained, is  due  in  no  minor  degree  to 
the  circumstance  that  it  has  been  the 
scat  of  a  well  established  and  wide- 
ly known  institution   of  learning. 

1838  TO   1888 

The  last  half  century,  from  1838 
to  the  present  time,  will  be  noted  as 
an  age  of  inventions.  And  no  prior 
period  of  our  history  has  been  so 
fruitful  in  improvements  to  the  town, 
calculated  to  increase  its  activity, 
and  consequence  and  attractiveness. 

An  entire  new  quarter  has  been 
added  to  the  village,  broad  streets 
opened  with  substantial  sidewalks 
and  abundance  of  beautiful  trees, 
and  lined  with  comfortable,  not  to 
say  handsome  dwellings.  Upon  our 
principal  business  thoroughfare,  the 
stores  and  blocks  have  for  the  most 
part  been  rebuilt,  of  more  durable 
materials,  and  with  increased  con- 
veniences  and  spaciousness. 

The  ready  and  rapid   communica- 


34 


tion  wilb  the  commercial  centre  of 
New  England  which  has  been  se- 
cured, affords  additional  advantages 
and  encouragement  to  the  various 
new  manufactures  which  have  plant- 
ed themselves  along  the  line  of  the 
railroad.  The  cotton  factory  has 
doubled  its  productiveness  ;  the  main 
river  has  been  deepened  and  straight- 
ened to  facilitate  water  carriage  to 
the  sea.  The  telephone  has  brought 
all  our  neighbors  nearer,  and  the  tel- 
egraph has  given  us  literally  wing- 
ed words,  with  power  of  flight  to  the 
farthest  regions  of  civilization. 

The  new  public  buildings  of  the 
town  and  county,  the  churches,  the 
railway  station,  the  Academy  and 
the  Seminary,  all  partake  of  the  gen- 
eral spirit  of  improvement.  Illumin- 
ating gas  has  come  to  light  our 
streets  and  public  and  private  edi- 
fices ;  and  abundant  pure  water 
lifts  itself  into  our  houses  and  waits 
at  our  hydrants  to  leap  forth  in  copi- 
ous streams  for  the  protection  of 
the  village  from  conflagration. 

A  cemetery  of  ample  size,  capable 
of  sufficient  expansion,  and  under 
the  charge  of  a  responsible  corpora- 
tion, has  taken  the  place  of  the  old 
town  burying  grounds,  which  were 
liable  after  a  generation  or  two  to 
fall  into  neglect  and  dilapidation. 
This  change  is  especially  welcome 
to  all  who  value  the  memory  of  the 
past  and  who  cherish  any  feeling  of 
veneration  for  the  last  resting  place 
of  the  dead. 

Our  system  of  public  instruction 
has  been  lifted  to  a  higher  level. 
J3etter  teachers,  books,  methods  and 


35 

schoolbuilclings  are  furnished  for 
this  generation  than  ever  before. 
Graded  schools  separate  the  pupils 
of  different  ages  and  degree  of  pro- 
ficiency. The  Fenaale  Seminarj',  by 
the  munificence  of  a  son  of  Exeter, 
aflfords  for  our  girls  exceptional 
facilities  for  free  education. 

Three  printing  offices  make  weekly 
proclamation  of  the  enterprise  and 
intelligence  of  our  people. 

The  six  thousand  volumes  and 
upwards  of  our  Public  Library  bring 
within  its  reach  almost  every  family 
and  person,  of  whatever  age  or  ca- 
pacit}',  and  make  it  an  educator  of 
the  widest  range.  The  only  alloy  to 
our  satisfaction  in  it,  is  the  grave  ap- 
prehension for  its  safety  in  its  pres- 
ent place  of  deposit.  A  wooden 
building  in  an  exposed  situation  is 
too  hazardous  a  place  in  which  to 
risk  an  accumulation  of  such  value 
and  so  impossible  to  replace  in  case 
of  loss.  One  public  spirited  citizen 
has  given  by  his  will  a  handsome 
sum  in  aid  of  the  library.  May 
we  not  hope  that  others  will  provide 
a  safe  and  suitable  home  for  its  col- 
lections, and  for  a  reading  room  for 
the  people  of  the  town  ?  Such  a  gift 
would  be  of  incalculable  value. 
Like  mere}',  it  would  be  twice  blessed, 
blessing  both  "him  that  gives  and 
him  that  takes." 

In  the  very  midst  of  this  half  cen- 
tury occurred  the  vastest  war  of 
modern  times,  waged  by  one  section 
of  the  Republic  against  its  lawful 
government  for  the' disruption  of  the 
national  Union.  When  hostile  guns 
were  turned  upon  the  American  flag. 


86 

and  the  President  issued  the  first  call 
to  arras,  though  the  state  of  New 
Hampshire  was  without  a  military 
organization,  the  young  men  of  Exe- 
ter were  ready  for  the  ordeal.  In  the 
regiment  commanded  by  one  of  our 
distinguished  townsmen,  marched  a 
body  of  Exeter  volunteers,  to  take 
part  in  the  first  great  conflict  of  the 
war.  From  that  time  until  the  sur- 
render of  the  rebel  army  at  Appomo- 
tax  there  was  scarcely  one  of  the  his- 
toric battlefields  of  the  great  struggle 
but  was  stained  with  Exeter  blood. 
Pearson,  Collins  and  scores  of  other 
Exeter  officers  and  soldiers  whose 
names  I  am  sorry  that  I  am  not  able 
with  accuracy  to  specif}',  gave  the 
crucial  proof  of  their  devotion  to 
their  country's  cause,  by  dying  for  it. 
Many  others  of  them  suffered  from 
wounds  and  disease,  sometimes  more 
than  the  pangs  of  death.  When  the 
titanic  conflict  was  over,  and  the 
Union  of  the  states  for  which  they 
had  bravely  fought,  was  confirmed, 
never  again  to  be  assailed  or  ques- 
tioned, the  shattered  ranks  of  the  sur- 
vivors returned.  We  welcomed  them 
with  gratitude  and  acclamation.  All 
that  they  have  since  received  of 
honor  and  of  reward,  from  a  grateful 
country,  they  have  well  deserved. 

As  long  as  the  war  lasted,  Exeter 
failed  in  no  duty  nor  attention  to  her 
soldiers  in  the  field,  or  to  the  families 
they  left  at  home.  But  since  peace 
has  returned,  there  is  one  testimonial 
of  honor  to  our  gallant  volunteers 
that  ought  no  longer  to  be  deferred. 
I  do  not  now  refer  to  a  Soldiers' 
Monumcut,  although  I   trust  in   due 


37 


time  to  see  such  a  structure  reared 
on  some  commanding  spot,  and 
worth}'  of  the  town  and  of  those 
whose  valor  it  commemorates.  Tlie 
testimonial  that  I  speak  of  is  simpler. 

To  this  day  the  town  has  no  com- 
plete and  accurate  record  of  the  men 
by  whom  it  was  represented  in  the 
great  Civil  war.  This  should  no 
longer  be.  We  owe  it  to  the  patriotic 
soldiers  and  sailors,  we  owe  it  to  our 
posterity,  we  owe  it  to  the  honor  of 
the  town,  that  the  name,  origin,  fam- 
ily, occupation,  time  and  place  of 
service,  achievements,  wounds,  suf- 
ferings and  in  case  of  the  dead,  the 
burial  place  of  each  Exeter  citizen 
who  performed  dut\'  in  the  army  or 
navy,  in  defence  of  the  National 
Union,  should  be  ascertained,  and 
placed  upon  permanent  record.  This 
should  be  done  without  delay,  for 
everyday  that  passes,  adds  to  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  all  the  needful 
information. 

Then  let  the  town  publish  this  roll 
of  service  and  of  honor  in  a  handsome 
Memorial  Volume  worthy  of  preserva- 
tion. When  this  is  done,  and  not 
before,  we  may  feel  that  one  impor- 
tant part  of  our  obligation  to  our 
patriotic  defenders,  not  to  suffer  their 
memory  to  pass  into  oblivion,  is  ac- 
complished. 

In  order  most  vividly  to  realize  the 
vast  changes  which  time  has  wrought 
in  our  town  in  the  long  period  which 
has  elapsed  since  it  was  yielded  by 
the  aborigines  to  be  the  abode  of 
white  men,  we  have  only  to  cast  a 
backward   glance   at  Exeter  as  it  is 


38 


depicted  to  us  in  its  earliest  years. 
It  is  like  looking  through  the  tele- 
scope reveised,  everything  appears  so 
(lititant  and  diminutive.  The  one 
primitive  corn  mill  of  Thomas  Wilson 
on  the  river ;  the  village  consisting 
of  a  single  street,  through  which 
Gowen  Wilson  collected  the  inhabi- 
tants' cows  to  drive  them  to  their  pas- 
turage, such  as  it  was,  in  the  woods ; 
the  bchool  where  Philemon  Pormort 
with  horn-book  and  primer  taught 
the  settlers'  children ;  the  log  meet- 
ing house  of  twenty  feet  square,  and 
the  great  primeval  forest  brooding 
over  all,  these  few  characteristic  fea- 
tures outline  the  story  of  the  poverty 
and  bareness  of  the  lives  which  our 
forefathers  were  content  to  lead. 

But  if  it  was  poor  living,  it  was 
associated,  in  some  respects  at  least, 
with  high  thinking.  Those  hard- far- 
ing men  possessed  and  transmitted 
to  their  descendants  sterling  qualities. 
Independence  and  firmness  when  as- 
sailed by  religious  intolerance  ;  manly 
resistance  to  the  illegal  abuse  of  civil 
authority  ;  courage  and  constancy  in 
defending  their  homes  and  families 
from  savage  brutality  ;  loyalty  to  their 
sovereign  when  he  was  right  and 
loyalty  to  right  when  he  was  wrong  ; 
undeviating  devotion  to  the  Uberties 
of  their  countrymen,  all  these  we  have 
seen  abundantly  exemplified  in  their 
lives. 

Generosity  and  consideration  for 
others,  were  also  among  their  charac- 
teristics. In  the  early  times  they  had 
little  enough  to  give.  Money  was  a 
rarity  ;  they  had  to  compensate  even 
thtir  mini-tor  by  barter.      Yet  when 


39 


Harvard  Culloge  in  ICtGd,  called  fur 
Jielp  to  rebuild  an  acadonaic  hall, 
Exetor  contributed  ten  pounds,  an 
act  of  liberality  which  must  have 
been  sensibly  felt  by  every  voter. 
When  Newmarket  was  about  setting 
up  as  a  separate  parish,  and  its 
resources  were  heavily  drawn  upon, 
Exeter  generousl3'  remitted  a  good 
part  of  the  taxes  for  which  it 
was  in  arrear.  Upon  Aha  purchase 
of  a  new  bell  by  the  town,  those  iu- 
habitants  who  lived  outside  of  its 
sound,  were  excused  from  contribut- 
ing to  its  cost.  When  tlie  town  pro- 
cured a  new  fire  engine,  none  wei-e 
required  to  share  in  the  expense, 
except  those  whose  buildings  were 
near  enough  to  profit  by  the  addi- 
tional security  it  afforded.  Jn  1774 
when  the  town  voted  to  raise  by  tax- 
ation one  hundred  pounds  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  sufferers  by  the  Boston 
Port  Bill,  any  unwilling  person  was 
allowed  to  obtain  exemption  from  the 
tax,  by  askin,^  it.  It  would  not  be 
diflicult  to  extend  the  catalogue  of 
the  town's  benefactions,  were  it  nec- 
essary for  our  purpose. 

Another  and  most  significant  cluir- 
acteristic  of  our  predecessors  it  would 
be  inexcusable  to  omit.  They  were 
second  to  none  of  their  New  Eugland 
contemporaries  in  their  attachment 
to  those  twin  children  and  guardians 
of  civilization,  the  school  and  the 
church.  Their  first  minister  and 
schoolmaster  had  both  been  thought 
worthy  of  approval  in  Boston. 
Philemon  Pormort,  the  earliest  teach- 
er, after  five  years'  service  in  Exeter 
quitted   the   place   in  company  with 


40 


Wheelwright,  but  tho  school  surviv- 
ed ;  and  there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  line  of  instructors  of  which 
he  was  the  head,  was  ever  afterwards 
broken.  We  know  that  during  the 
next  century  they  were,  almost  to  a 
man,  college  graduates. 

The  first  church  appears  to  have 
been  established  within  the  year 
1638.  After  the  departure  of  Wheel- 
wright there  were  intervals  when 
there  was  no  settled  pastor,  yet  there 
is  evidence  which  indicates  that  re- 
ligious services  were  never  for  any 
length  of  time  intermitted.  If  the 
church,  in  the  mean  time,  can  be 
justly  said  to  have  lost  its  organiz- 
ation, it  must  probabh'  have  been 
due  to  a  neglect  to  "observe  the  or- 
dinances." But  if  the  worship  of 
God  was  continued,  other  questions 
lose  their  importance. 

To  those  fathers  of  Exeter,  and  to 
their  descendants  following  in  their 
footsteps,  we  are  indebted  for  the 
material  and  moral  standing  of  our 
town  to-da}'.  I  may  say  without  un- 
due pride  that  it  is  a  precious  inher- 
itance. This  goodly  town,  by  no 
means  without  fault,  3"et  fair  to  the 
eye,  the  abode  of  peace,  comfort  and 
abundance,  a  centre  of  education  and 
refinement,  prominent  and  influential 
far  above  what  its  population  or 
wealth  or  business  would  warrant, 
rich  in  its  ancient  and  modern  re- 
pute, in  its  early  traditions  and  asso- 
ciations, in  the  memory  of  the  good 
deeds  it  has  done  and  of  the  able  and 
worthy  men  it  has  nurtured, — is  now 
ours,  for  better  or  for  worse.  Upon 
this  generation  now  rests  the  respon- 


41 


sibility  of  maintaining  its  worthily 
won  position  and  character. 

Where  can  we  go  for  instruction 
how  best  to  acquit  ourselves  of  the 
high  charge,  so  well  as  to  the  pre- 
cepts and  the  example  of  those  who 
have  made  Exeter  what  we  find  it? 
Happily  there  are  none  of  their 
perils  and  hardships  to  be  undergone 
now.  But  there  is  equal  need  of  the 
qualities  which  they  displayed  in 
peaceful  times,  the  energy  and  pru- 
dence, the  liberality  and  justice,  the 
regard  for  liberty  and  education  and 
righteousness.  These  are  the  funda- 
mental principles  on  which  our  hopes 
of  genuine  progress  must  rest,  and 
to  them  we  should  add  all  the  nine- 
teenth century  practical  wisdom, 
touching  the  pubhc  justice,  order, 
morals,  health  and  comfort. 

If  we  perform  our  part  by  these 
combined  lights  of  the  past  and  the 
present,  we  cannot  fail.  And.  when 
at  the  next  anniversary  Celebration, 
our  own  period  shall  pass  in  review, 
it  shall  be  justly  said  of  us  that  we 
faithfully  administered  our  trust,  and 
contributed  our  full  share  to  the  ad- 
vancement and  elevation  of  the  town. 


